Cartridge for guns and ordnances



July 25, 1933.

W. HAENICHEN CARTRIDGE FOR GUNS AND ORDNANCES Filed Dec. A 16. 1952 Y c E m,c dmc m..d md a Patented July 25, 1933 UNITED s'ra'nasl WILHELM HAENICHEN, F BERLIN, GERMANY CARTRIDGE FOR GUNS AND ORDNANGES i Application l1ed December 16, 1932, Serial No. 647,683, and in Germany August 15, 1931.

This invention relates to an improved cartridge for guns and ordnances; more especially, it relates to the charge structure of such cartridges, and the object of the invenstion isY to decrease the explosive power of the charge. l

In modern gun and ordnance technics long barrels for long and heavy projectiles and.

for high initial speeds are more and more ldcmanded. High initial speeds can be attained only by strong charges. The eX- plosive power of such charges can be mitigated only, by an appropriate structure of the charge. y

l For this purpose bottom ignition has 'been dispensed with and front ignition has been substituted therefor, the particular object of this change being t0 attain that 'after the ignition the charge remains quietly on he bottom of the cartridge. Furthermore, the charge has been composed of a pluralitygof individual charge bodies, of which those at and near. the front of the cartridge consist of a more slowly burning powder and those at and near the rear end of the cartridge consist of a more quickly burning powder. These individual charge bodies form solidv pieces, each of which is enclosed in a shell or covering consisting of a particularly slowly burning material in order to ensure the propagation of the* ignition from piece to piece. p

None of the vcharge structures that have become known up to now answers fully the purposein view. rllhe rst ignition flame arising passes in spite of the particular structure of the charge the entire amount thereof practically instantaneously or wraps up all its parts at the same time, burns through the coverings and has finally the detrimental effect that the rear charge pieces which consistv of a stronger nitrated powder shoots away the front charge pieces that consist of a weaker nitrated powder.

The progress and merit of the present improved cartridge with its particular charge structure resides therein that the ignition iiame and the driving gases are cornpletely prevented from passing rearwardly. I- attain this effect by enclosing the individual portions of the charge in a lacquerlike elastic nitro-preparation or b covering them therewith, there having en admiXed to that nitrogenous composition substances, by whichthe lacquer is caused to burn'only very slowly, the thus enclosed and covered charge pieces being consecutively firmly pressed into the cartridge, between the inner surface of the wall thereof and the outer surface of the ignition tube, wheree0 by they are firmly cemented together and with the shell, as well as with said tube. When the gun or ordnance is red, the-pressure of the arising driving gases shall hold the charge rmly wedged in against the bottom and between the shell and the ignition tube, so that the glowing gases do not find even the narrowest fissure, even if the shell should yield elastically to the barrel. For this reason the wall of the cartridge shell and the adacent surface of the charge must be slightly conical, as is usual in the manufacture of cartridge shells. rThe elastic nitrogenous lacquer effects then complete tightening. Also the ignition tube must be sostrong that it -is able to withstand the pressure of the driving gases, and also its' Wall must be slightly conical in order to provide `for an intimate contact with the adjacent surface of the charge.

The individual charge pieces may contact with one another in plane surfaces,-but it is more suited to the purpose in view to give them spherical contacting surfaces having all the same radius of curvature, the length of the radius being such that the centre of curvature coincides with the ignition point. With thisconguration of the charge pieces, everyone thereof will be uniformly burnt down before the ignition has propagated across the separating layer of lacquer to the neXt charge piece. If the contacting surfaces were plane, portions of a rear charge piece would already have been 1gnited while portions of the preceding charge 95 piece are still burning, and there would arise shocks instead of a constant increase of the pressure.

In the case of a small caliber the strong rigid ignition tube would entail an undesired extension of the cartridge, and as with the small caliber the lighter projectiles are able to stand quicker burning charges, a paste-board ignition tube may be substituted for said rigid one. In order 'to be in the position to employ charges of lesser and of higher nitrated powder, the past-board ignition lube is placed into the axis of a charge bod)7 having the shape of aslender truncated hollow cone, the smaller end sur face 'of which is enlarged and so shaped as to represent an inverted conical head. The ignition tube extends from the small end of said conical charge body through said head to nearly the top surface of the same. The conical charge body is located within a cylindrical charge body having a conical bore corresponding to the conicalness of the inner charge body; that outer body consists of a higher nitrated powder, and between the two bodies is also with this constructional form a layer of the more slowly burning elastic lacquer, and it is again suited to the purpose to provide such layers also between the inner charge body and the ignition tube, as well as between the outer charge body and the shell.

The above described charge structure renders it also possible to add or apply salt cartridges or charges in a particularly favorable manner. It must be borne in mind that the nr11n-muzzle flame does not simply consist o? hot driving gases. When these gases contain an excess of carbon oxide they are set on fire only shortly before the orifice when they take up oxygen from out of the atmospheric air. The salt charges as hitherto added have the purpose to present the gases the requisite oxygen already in the barrel, but up to now they could be applied only as an ante-charge. From now, according to the present invention, the salt charges shall form layers between the individual powder bodies so that they are immediately atomized ,by `the arising driving gases still within the cartridge and can by far betterv present their oxygen to the carbon oxide. The shape of the salt charges must be accommodated to the shape of the powder bodies and these charges must be pressed into the cartridge shell together with the,

powder bodies and with the layers of the lacquer, and besides, it is necessary that they be perforated in order to render possible the propagation of the ignition from one burning powder body to the next. Y

The invention is illustrated diagrammatically and by way of example on the accompanying drawing, on which Figure 1 is an axial section through one constructional form of a cartridge designed according to this invention, and Figure 2 is a similar representation showing a modiication.

On the drawing, a (Fig. 1) denotes the shell of the cartridge. The thickness' of the wall of the shell increases from the front end to the rear end of the same. g is the central .rigid ignition tube, the wall of which increases likewise in thickness from the front end to the rear end of the same. The charge bodies c, or powder bodies respectively, are disk-shaped; their diameter decreases from the front end to the rear end of the cartridge aceordingto the increasing wall thickness of the shell and of the ignition tube, but the thickness of the disks increases, as shown.

e, d (indicated merely by single thick lines) denotes the lays or coverings of the elastic lacquer by which the charge portions c are cemented together, as well as with the shell and with the ignition tube.` The contacting surfaces of the consecutive layers are spherical and the radius of curvature coincides with the ignition point f.

While the constructional form shown in Fig. 1 is intended especially for a large caliber, the construe-tional form shown in Fig. 2 is intended especially for a small one. The thickness of the wall a1 of the shell 4increases also in this case from the front end of the cartridge to the rear end of the same, but instead of the rigid conical ignition tube a cylindrical paste-board tube ,(11 is provided, and instead of the. superposed charge or powder bodies (Fig. l) telescopically arranged charge or powder bodies h and 7i: are provided, of which l1l consists of lesser nitratcd powder and r of,

stronger nitrated one. The charge body h is shaped as a slender inverted cone having as head an inverted cone, the diameter of which corresponds to the diameter of the shell. 'Ihe tube g1 extends upwardly into said head to nearly the top surface of the same. The charge body k has a conical bore corresponding to the body h. The two bodies are separated from one another or, which is just as true, connected with one another bythe layer or covering c1 of lacquer. The charge is ignited in the point l and the ignition is propagated quickly along the paste-board tube g1 without encountering the higher nitrated powder k. Only after the lesser nitrated powder has been practically completely burned, the ignition proceedsto the powder h. There is in this case only one perforated salt disk mi.

which is located between the head of the ypowder body h and the adjacent top portion of the powder body c, and covermgs or layers of the lacquer are provided also on the. two surfaces of the disk m1 for the above-stated purpose. f

I claim:

1. A cartridge :tor guns and ordnances, comprising, in combination al shell and an ignition tube arranged centrally in the shell, consecutive layersconsisting of nitrogenous powder of such compositions that the combustion speed increases in the direction from the front end of the cartridge to the rear end of the same, said layers surrounding said tube, and intermediate layers located between said first-mentioned layers and consisting of an elastic, more slowly burning nitrogenous lacquer filling up also eventually existing interstices between the said shell and the said ignition tube.

2. A cartridge for guns and ordnances, comprising, in combination a shell and an ignition tube arranged centrally in the shell, the thickness of the wall of said shell, as well as of said tube increasing in thedirection from the front end of the cartridge to the rear end of the same; consecutive layers constituting the charge of the cartridge and consisting of nitrogenous powder of such compositions that the combustion speed increases in the direction from the front end to the rear end of the cartridge, andintermediate layers located between said layers of powder and consisting of an elastic, more slowly burning lacquer lilling up also eventually existing interstices between the shell and the said ignition tube.

3. A cartridge for guns and ordnances, comprising, in combination with a shell, the thickness of the wall of which increases from the front end of the cartridge to the rear end of the same and with a rigid ignition tube arranged centrally in said shell and `having also a wall, the thickness of which increases from the front end of the cartridge to the rear of the same, consecutive bodies of nitrogenous powder fitting accurately into the shell and around the ignition tube and consisting of such compositions that the com- .bustion speed increases in the direction from the front end of the cartridge to the rear end of the same, said layers surrounding said tube, and intermediate layers arranged between said lirst-mentioned layers and consisting of an elastic, more slowly burning nitrogenous lacquer filling up also the interstices between the said shell and the said ignition tube, the contacting surfaces of all said layers being sphericaland having a common centre of curvature lying in the lgnition point at the front end of said ignition tube.

4. A cartridge for guns and ordnances, comprising, in combination a shell and an ignition tube arranged centrally in the shell and consisting of a material unable to withstand the gas pressure, coaxial layers consisting of nitrogenous powder of such compositions that the combustion speed increases in the direction from the front end of the cartridge to the rear end of the same, and intermediate layers located between said firstmentioned layers and consisting of an elastic, more slowly burning nitrogenous lacquer, substantially as set forth.

5. A cartridge for guns and ordnances, comprising, in combination a shell and an ignition tube arranged centrally in they shell and consisting of a material unable to withstand the gas pressure, telescopically arranged layers of nitrogenous powder, of which the inner layer is less nitrogenous than the outer one, the inner layer forming a slender truncated cone, the smaller end surface of which is located at the rear end of the cartridge and the outer layer having a correspondingly shaped conical bore, and an intermediate layer consisting of an elastic, more slowly burning nitrogenous lacquer, as set forth.

6. A cartridge for guns and ordnances, comprising, in combination a shell and an ignition tube arranged centrally in the shell, consecutive layers consisting partly of nitrogenous powder of such compositions that the combustion speed increases in the direction from the front end of the cartridge to the rear end of the same, partly of perforated layers of salt, and partly of intermediate layers of an elastic nitrogenous lacquer interposed between said other layers, substantially as set forth.

7. A cartridge for guns and ordnances, comprising, in combination a shell and an ignition tube arranged in said shell, consecutive layers of nitrogenous powder of such different compositions that the combustion speed increases from 'the front end to the rear end of the cartridge; layers of salt interposed between said first-mentioned layers and being perforated, and layers of a nitrogenous lacquer interposed between all other layers and enclosing them, all said layers being pressed into the space between the said shell and the said ignition tube, substantially as set forth.

WILHELM HAENICHEN.

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